Methods and systems for facilitating the provision of opinions to a shopper from a panel of peers

ABSTRACT

In accordance with one or more embodiments, a system determines an image, selects a panel of participants, and outputs the image to each of the participants of the panel of participants. The image may be an image of a garment a shopper is considering purchasing, an image of the shopper wearing the garment, or an image of a virtual model of the shopper combined with an image of the garment. The panel of participants may be selected based on a characteristic associated with the shopper. The image may be output to the panel of participants along with a request for an opinion regarding the garment (e.g., “Buy It” or “Don&#39;t Buy It”). The responses may be collected from the participants and an indication of the results may be output to the shopper.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This Application is a continuation-in-part of commonly-owned, co-pendingU.S. application Ser. No. 09/602,948, filed Jun. 26, 2000 in the name ofWalker et al. and entitled SHOPPER INFORMATION SYSTEM WITH PEER INPUT,which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.60/210,946, which was filed Jun. 12, 2000 and is entitled ShopperInformation System with Peer Input.

BACKGROUND

While some people hate shopping, or at least profess to hate it, othersenjoy shopping and consider shopping to be one of their favorite leisureactivities. For some, one of the most enjoyable parts of shopping istrying on garments and observing how the shopper appears in the garmentthat is tried on. Shoppers also may derive entertainment from observingfellow shoppers as the fellow shoppers are trying on garments. It canalso be an enjoyable part of the shopping experience to exchangecomments and advice with other shoppers regarding garments that arebeing tried on.

In short, shopping can be a social experience. Indeed, family membersand/or friends often go shopping together. One of the advantages (or insome cases, disadvantages) of shopping with friends or family is theopportunity to receive comments from friends and family on garments thatone is trying on and/or considering purchasing. For some shoppers,comments and approval from friends, family members or fellow shoppersare an essential part of the purchasing decision process in that onlywith such comments and approval is the shopper able to overcome theanxiety which may be involved in deciding whether to purchase an item.

The on-line shopping experience is very different from the in-storeshopping experience. Although on-line shopping can be attractive formany reasons, including especially convenience, it lacks the richness ofsensory input that is available in a retail store. It particularly lacksthe opportunity to try on garments and to receive input from othershoppers, including those whom one has accompanied to the store. It alsolacks the psychological encouragement that many shoppers need in orderto reach a decision to buy a garment.

Attempts have been made to try to duplicate some of the social andsensory elements of in-store shopping, in an on-line environment,subject to the inherent limitations of such an environment.

For example, the well-known catalog merchant Lands' End has provided a“Shop with a friend” feature on its retail website (www.landsend.com).This feature is described in an article written by Melinda Rice whichappeared in the Mar. 2, 2000 edition of the Dallas Morning News and wasentitled “Sites Encourage Shoppers to Bring a Friend Along”. Asdescribed in this article, the “Shop with a friend” feature is limitedto linking two users together. Before the joint shopping experience, thetwo shoppers each select a password and agree upon a time to meet at theLands' End website. At the appointed time, each user clicks on an iconfor the feature. Based on the password, the browsers of the two usersare linked and the users are allowed to “shop” together, by sharing thesame web pages while talking on the phone or chatting on-line.

The Lands' End web site offers another feature, referred to therein as“Your Personal Model”. This feature allows a user to define a “3-Dmodel” for the shopper's body based on inputs provided by the user, suchas body measurements. When a garment is selected for a “virtual try-on”,an image of the garment is combined with an image based on the virtualmodel to provide a combined image that represents to some extent how theuser might appear while wearing the garment. Because of the limitednumber of options available for inputting information, the virtualmodels bear, in general, only a small degree of resemblance to an actualimage of the user.

The present inventors have recognized the desirability of increasing theopportunities to interact with others and to receive fashion adviceon-line. The present inventors have further recognized that there areopportunities to enhance the in-store shopping experience by providingInternet-based features.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart that provides an overview of a method provided inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system provided in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram representation of a merchant server that ispart of the system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a tabular representation of a customer database that is shownin FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a tabular representation of a participant database that isshown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a tabular representation of a profile database that is shownin FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 shows a screen display provided in accordance with the inventionfor entering profile information to be stored in the profile database ofFIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a tabular representation of a request database that is shownin FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is a tabular representation of a response database that is shownin FIG. 3;

FIG. 10 is a tabular representation of a feedback database that is shownin FIG. 3;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart that illustrates a method carried out using thesystem of FIG. 2 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 12 shows a screen display provided in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention for entering data for defining a request forfeedback from a panel of participants;

FIG. 13 shows a pop-up display provided in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention, to solicit participation in a panel by aprospective participant;

FIG. 14 shows a screen display provided in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention to a participant who has indicated awillingness to participate in a panel;

FIG. 15 shows a screen display provided according to one embodiment ofthe invention to a shopper to provide feedback based on responses from apanel of participants;

FIG. 16 shows another screen display for providing feedback to a shopperbased on responses from a panel of participants, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 17 is a schematic representation of a kiosk arrangement provided inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram representation of a system provided inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention and including the kioskarrangement of FIG. 17;

FIG. 19 is a flow chart that illustrates a method carried out using thesystem of FIGS. 17 and 18 according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 20 is a plan diagram of a cellular telephone of a participant,displaying a request for an opinion regarding a garment, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 21 is a plan diagram of a cellular telephone of a shopper,displaying results of a request for an opinion regarding a garment, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to one or more embodiments, a method comprises receiving, froma shopper, a request for opinions regarding a garment and determining animage of the garment. The image of the garment may be, for example, alsoreceived from the shopper or retrieved from memory based on anidentifier of the garment received from the shopper. The method furthercomprises selecting, for the shopper, a plurality of peers to providethe opinion, the peers being selected based on a characteristicassociated with the shopper. The characteristic may comprise, forexample, a characteristic possessed by the shopper and/or acharacteristic the shopper desires at least one peer to possess. Forexample, if the shopper is a teenage girl, the shopper may desireopinions regarding a garment from other teenage girls who live in thesame state, city or county as the shopper. The method further comprisesoutputting to each of the plurality of peers the request for the opinionand the image of the garment, receiving responses to the request from atleast a subset of the plurality of peers, and outputting, to theshopper, an indication of the opinions of the peers regarding thegarment, the opinions of the peers being determined based on thereceived responses. Outputting the indication of the opinions maycomprise, for example, outputting a percentage of the peers who provideda positive response to the garment (e.g., “buy it” or “thumbs up”) and apercentage of the peers who provided a negative response to the garment(e.g., “don't buy it” or “thumbs down”). The percentages may bedetermined, for example, based only on the peers who responded to therequest.

According to one or more embodiments, a method comprises receiving animage from a shopper, the image depicting a garment and selecting forthe shopper, substantially at a time the image is received, a pluralityof participants to whom the image is to be output. Each of theparticipants of the plurality of participants may be selected based on acharacteristic specified by a shopper associated with the garment. Thecharacteristic may comprise, for example, a characteristic possessed bythe shopper and/or a characteristic the shopper desires at least oneparticipant to possess. The method further comprises causing,substantially at a time the plurality of participants is selected, theimage to be output to each participant of the plurality of participantsby causing a cellular telephone of the participant to display the image.A request for an opinion regarding the garment may be output inassociation with the image. The method further comprises collectingresponses to the request for a predetermined period of time from a timeat which the image was output, wherein the predetermined period of timeis not greater than ten minutes, and outputting an indication of thecollected responses to the shopper. Collecting the responses maycomprise, for example, collecting the responses until one of thefollowing conditions occurs: (i) an end of a predetermined period oftime occurs, or (ii) a minimum number of responses are received.

According to one or more embodiments, a method for operating a shopperinformation system includes generating an image of a shopper,distributing the image to a plurality of participants, and receivingresponses to the image from the plurality of participants. One or moreembodiments may further include processing the received responses, whichmay take the form of performing a statistical analysis of the receivedresponses in real time. The processed responses or results of theprocessing may then be transmitted to the shopper.

One or more embodiments may include selecting a garment to be includedin the image. Alternatively, in an in-store embodiment, the shopper maydon the garment and then an image of the shopper wearing the garment maybe captured. In an on-line embodiment, the image of the selected garmentmay be combined with an image of the shopper. The image of the shoppermay have been captured photographically or may be a virtual model or thelike generated based on input provided by the shopper or by anotheruser.

One or more embodiments of the present invention may include receivinginput from the shopper to define characteristics of the participants,and assembling the participants based on the received input. Theassembling step may include selecting a panel of participants from apool of participants. The responses from the participants may beprovided to the shopper substantially immediately upon receiving theresponses, i.e. in real time. The processing of the responses mayinclude accumulating the responses.

One or more embodiments of the present invention may include generatinga question to be distributed to the participants together with the imageof the shopper. The responses may include a selection of one of twoalternatives posed by the question distributed to the participants. Inaddition or alternatively, the responses may include a selection of oneof a range of alternatives posed by the question, and/or open-ended textresponses to the question.

In one or more embodiments of the present invention, a method foroperating a shopper information network includes logging on to ashopping website, retrieving a shopper image that represents a shopper,selecting a garment, combining an image of the selected garment with theshopper image to form a combined image, requesting a panel ofparticipants, defining desired characteristics of the panel ofparticipants, defining a query, determining availability of participantswho match the defined desired characteristics, transmitting the queryand the combined image to participants determined to be available,receiving responses to the query from participants to whom the query andthe combined image were transmitted, processing the received responsesand transmitting the processed responses to the shopper.

The processing step may include calculating respective percentages forcategories of the received responses, and the method may further includepresenting the calculated percentages to the shopper. The calculatedpercentages may be presented as a pie chart or a bar chart or in someother manner. The manner of presentation of the percentages may bedefined by the shopper.

One or more embodiments of the present invention may include selecting asecond garment and the combined image may include an image of the secondgarment. Thus, the on-line shopper may virtually “try on” an outfit orensemble of two or more garments, and may receive comments on the outfitfrom participants contacted through on-line communication.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, a methodof operating a shopper information system includes capturing an image ofa shopper who is wearing a garment, entering a query, defining a panelof participants, transmitting the query and the image to the panel ofparticipants, receiving responses to the query from the participants,and presenting the responses to the shopper.

One or more embodiments may include scanning a product identifier codefor the garment.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, a shopperinformation system includes a processor and a memory which is connectedto the processor and stores a program, the processor being operativewith the program to store an image of a shopper, distribute the image toa plurality of participants, and receive responses to the image from aplurality of participants.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, a shopperinformation kiosk includes a kiosk structure, an image device, mountedon the kiosk structure, for converting an image to digital image data, amemory for storing the digital image data, a processor connected to thememory, a communication device for connecting the processor to a datanetwork, an input device for providing shopper input to the processor,and a display for displaying information to a shopper, the processorbeing programmed to control the image device to capture an image of theshopper, distribute the captured image to a plurality of participantsvia the communication device, and present to the shopper via the displayresponses to the distributed image received from the participants.

The image device may include a digital camera, and the shopperinformation kiosk may further include a scanner connected to theprocessor for entering garment information.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, a methodfor operating a shopper information system includes storing respectiveprofiles for each participant of a pool of participants, generating animage of a shopper, receiving a request for a panel of participants, therequest specifying at least one participant characteristic, selecting apanel of participants from the pool of participants based on the storedprofiles and the specified at least one participant characteristic, anddistributing the image of the shopper to the selected panel ofparticipants.

The method according to one or more embodiments of the present inventionmay further include receiving responses to the image from the panel ofparticipants and providing feedback to the shopper on the basis of thereceived responses. The step of generating the image of the shopper mayoccur either before or after receiving the request for the panel ofparticipants.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention,shoppers are allowed to solicit opinions from numerous peers or otherswith regard to a garment that the shopper is trying on during anin-store visit or virtually trying on during on-line shopping. With thebenefit of opinions from others gathered via a communication networksuch as the Internet, the shopper can purchase with confidence, havingreceived reactions from a considerable number of people as to whethergarment is right for the shopper. This can help the shopper to overcomethe anxiety which often accompanies a purchasing decision. Since a moreconfident shopper tends to purchase items more quickly and more often,the system and method of the present invention is also advantageous toretailers by tending to increase sales of the retailers' products.

The following definitions shall apply in this specification and in theappended claims:

-   garment: includes any article of wearing apparel, including shoes,    handbags, belts, hats and other accessories and jewelry.-   merchant: includes retailers, manufacturers, on-line sellers or    other sellers of fashion products.-   panel: a group of participants who respond to a particular request    for an opinion from a shopper.-   participant: an individual who responds to a shopper's request for    an opinion or who indicates a willingness to respond to shoppers'    requests for opinions. The term “participant” shall be synonymous    with the term “peer” herein.-   pool: a group of participants who have registered as potential    respondents to requests from shoppers.-   query: includes a shopper's request for a fashion opinion; may    include a specific question selected or entered by a shopper.-   response: any information provided by a participant in response to a    query from a shopper.-   shopper: an individual who is considering the purchase of a garment    or other item. The term “shopper” shall be synonymous with the term    “customer” herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates a method that provides an overview of someembodiments of the present invention.

The method of FIG. 1 begins with a step 102 in which an image isgenerated of a shopper who is wearing a garment. The image may begenerated by a camera such as a digital camera, or maybe a compositeimage of a virtual model or other previously-stored representation of ashopper, merged with an image of a garment shown as being worn by thevirtual model or representation of the shopper.

Next, at step 104, a panel of participants is assembled. As will beseen, the participants are selected to match characteristics that arespecified by the shopper. Thus, the shopper may wish to receive afashion opinion from the shopper's peers, in which case the panel ofparticipants is selected to match characteristics of the shopper such asage, gender, income level, preferred style and social attitudes,geographical area of residence, and so forth. Alternatively, the panelof participants may be selected based on a group defined by the shopperto be different from the shopper. For example, a female shopper may wishto know whether a garment that the shopper is trying on will appeal tomen.

The selection of the participants for the panel may be based uponprofile information that the participants have previously provided toindicate demographic and other information for the participants.

The assembling of the panel may be via instant messaging or liketechnology, executed in real time.

As participants who are qualified and willing to participate areidentified, the image of the shopper wearing the garment is distributedby Internet communications to the selected participants (step 106), andthe participants are asked to provide their opinions. The resultingresponses are then received (step 108) and processed or otherwisemanipulated into a form suitable for being provided to the shopper. Theresulting processed responses, or information obtained from theresponses, is then presented to the shopper as feedback (step 110).

To summarize, a shopper, while trying on a garment or consideringpurchase of a garment on-line, is able to solicit opinions from apotentially large number of third parties on the basis of an image ofthe shopper wearing the garment or a representation of the shopperwearing the garment. Responses from the participants are solicited andreceived in real time so that the shopper can make an informed judgementas to the suitability of the garment for the shopper.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates a system for providing anon-line environment in which the present invention may be applied. InFIG. 2, reference numeral 200 generally indicates the system of thisaspect of the invention. The system 200 includes a merchant server 202connected via Internet 204 to a shopper terminal 206 and participantterminals 208.

All of the hardware making up the system 200 may be conventional,programmed to carry out methods of the present invention. Thus themerchant server 202 may be constituted by one or more conventionalserver computers (e.g., of the type employed for retail website hostingapplications). The shopper terminal 206 and the participant terminals208 may be conventional personal computers or other devices used tointeract with web servers via the Internet. A shopper terminal 206and/or a participant terminal 208 may each comprise, for example, one ormore of (i) a personal computer, (ii) a laptop computer, (iii) ahandheld computer such as a cellular telephone, a land-line telephone, apager, a personal digital assistant and/or a digital camera, (iv) akiosk, (v) an automated teller machine, (vi) a gaming device, (vii) agame console, and/or (viii) a vending machine.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a shopper whouses a shopper terminal 206 receives opinions from a number (e.g.,three, five, ten, or dozens or even hundreds) of participants utilizingparticipant terminals 208, of which only two are explicitly shown inFIG. 2.

It should be understood that a single merchant server 202 may beoperative to permit solicitation of fashion opinions from plural shopperterminals at a given time, although only one shopper terminal 206 isshown in FIG. 2. It should also be understood that, although only oneshopper terminal 206 is shown in the drawing, the merchant server 202may be operative to serve a plurality of shopper terminals 206.

It should be further be understood that the merchant server 202 maycomprise one or more servers working together. In embodiments in whichmore than one server comprises merchant server 202, the more than oneservers may be located in different locations and may communicate via acommunication network. The merchant server 202 may refer to any devicethat may communicate with one or more shopper terminals 206, one or moreparticipant terminals 208, one or more third-party servers, one or moreremote controllers, and/or other network nodes, and may be capable ofrelaying communications to and from each.

It should further be understood that, in one or more embodiments, anentity distinct from a merchant from which the shopper is considering apurchase may facilitate aspects of the present invention. For example,Applicants envision a system operated by an entity distinct from amerchant (e.g., a cellular telephone service provider, a InternetService Provider, or another entity). This entity may receive requestsfor opinions from shoppers, select participants for the shopper,transmit a request for an opinion to the participants on behalf of theshopper, collect and/or analyze the responses and provide an indicationof the responses to the shopper. Thus, in some embodiments, the merchantserver 202 may comprise a server operated by such an entity rather thanby a merchant. In other embodiments, the system 200 may include a thirdparty server that is operable to communicate with a plurality ofmerchant servers, each merchant server being operated by a merchant, andwith a plurality of participant terminals 208. In yet other embodiments,the system 200 may comprise a third party server that is operable tocommunicate directly with a plurality of shopper terminals 206 and aplurality of participant terminals 208.

For example, Applicants envision one implementation of embodiments ofthe present invention wherein a shopper uses a shopper terminal 206comprising a cellular telephone equipped with a camera. The shopper mayuse the camera to capture an image of a garment the shopper isconsidering purchasing. The shopper may transmit the image of thegarment to the third party server. The third party server may select aplurality of participants and transmit the image to the cellulartelephones of the plurality of participants (e.g., using cellulartelephone numbers stored in association with each selected participantin a database of participants registered with the third party server).The participants may submit opinions to the third party server (e.g.,“worth buying”, “not worth buying”). The third party server may thentransmit an indication of the opinions to the shopper's cellulartelephone (e.g., “76% say ‘Buy It’ and 24% say “Don't Buy It”). In suchan embodiment, the merchant at which the shopper is consideringpurchasing the garment may not be involved in the process of solicitingopinions regarding the garment for the shopper. In one or moreembodiments, the system of the present invention utilizes a 3G networkto transmit information to and from cellular telephones.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram representation of the merchantserver 202. The merchant server 202 includes a CPU or processor 302, oneor more communication ports 304 and a mass storage device 306. As notedbefore, all hardware components of the merchant server 202 may beconventional. To simplify the drawing, additional conventionalcomponents of the merchant server 202, such as embedded and workingmemory, a clock module, data buses and so forth, are omitted from thedrawing.

The processor 302 generally controls the functions of the merchantserver 202 and is in communication with the communication port 304 andthe mass storage device 306. The communication port 304 may beconventional circuitry that allows the processor 302 to engage in datacommunication with other devices via the Internet or other communicationchannels. The mass storage device 306 may include one or more harddrives. Stored on the mass storage device 306 is a program 308 thatcontrols the processor 302 in accordance with the invention. The program308 may also include conventional program elements such as operatingsystem software, device drivers, and communication software. The program308 may also include program elements required for operation of themerchant server 202 as a retail shopping website. Such program elementsare well known to those who are skilled in the art and need not bedescribed further. The aspects of the program 308 related to practicingembodiments of the present invention will be described in more detailbelow.

Also stored by the mass storage device 306 are a customer database 310,a participant database 312, a profile database 314, a request database316, a response database 318, a feedback database 320, a shopper imagedatabase 322, a product database 324, a garment image database 326, acombined image database 328 and a transaction database 330. It should benoted that in one or more embodiments different information, additionalinformation, or a subset of the information illustrated in thesedatabases may be used. Further, the information may be stored in aconfiguration different from that illustrated in databases 310 through330.

Except to the extent that these databases are conventional datastructures maintained in retail shopping websites, more detaileddescriptions of these databases now follow.

FIG. 4 is a simplified tabular representation of the customer database310 shown in FIG. 3. The table of FIG. 4 includes a column 402 forcustomer identifiers, a column 404 for customer names, a column 406 forcustomer addresses, a column 408 for customer e-mail addresses, a column410 for customer credit card account numbers, and a column 412 forpointers to respective customer images in the shopper image database322.

The entries in column 402 are identifying codes that uniquely identifyeach customer. The entries in columns 404-410 are self explanatory, andare items of information that are conventionally stored in customerdatabases of retail shopping websites. The image identifiers in column412 are pointers to the respective images captured or generated based oncustomer input for each customer who wishes to avail himself or herselfof the features of the present invention and for whom a correspondingimage has been stored in the shopper image database 322. It will benoted that not all shoppers have elected to apply for the fashionopinion feature of the present invention and consequently some customersdo not have an entry under column 412.

Although only three entries are shown in the table of FIG. 4, it is tobe understood that, in a typical implementation of the invention, thecustomer database will contain a large number of entries, correspondingto a large number of customers. It should also be understood that thecustomer database may store additional items of information of the typescustomarily stored for retail on-line shopping applications, includinginformation such as preferred shipping carrier and preferred mode ofshipment. The customer database may also include a historical record ofpurchases that have been made by the customers. In embodiments whereinformation is transmitted to and/or from a customer via a cellulartelephone or other mobile device, the telephone number and/or otherinformation required to contact the cellular telephone or other mobiledevice may be stored in the customer database for one or more customerrecords.

FIG. 5 is a simplified tabular representation of the participantdatabase 312 shown in FIG. 3. The table of FIG. 12 includes a column 502for customer identifiers, a column 504 for participant identifiers, acolumn 506 for participant names, a column 508 for participant e-mailaddresses and a column 510 which contains rating information forparticipants. In embodiments in which participants are contacted viacellular telephones (e.g., images and/or requests for opinions aretransmitted to the participants via cellular telephones on a 3Gnetwork), the participant database 312 may store cellular telephonenumbers for the participants.

It is noted that participants need not be customers of the merchant whomaintains the merchant server (in embodiments wherein the server isoperated by a merchant). Consequently, there may be no customeridentifier available for the participant. For participants who arecustomers, the corresponding customer identifier is entered in column502 and no participant identifier is provided. For participants who arenot customers, a participant identifier is issued to uniquely identifythe participant and is entered in column 504. In one or moreembodiments, participants are not employees (e.g., customer servicerepresentatives) of the merchant operating merchant server 202.

The entries under columns 506 and 508 are self-explanatory. It is notedthat, although only women's names are shown in the tables of FIGS. 4 and5, it is contemplated that men as well as women may be customers andparticipants. Furthermore, it is contemplated that the present inventionmay be implemented in websites that have only men as customers and/or asparticipants.

Although only four entries are shown in FIG. 5, it is contemplated thatthe number of entries, corresponding to a pool of potentially availableparticipants, may be very large and may be larger than the number ofcustomers in the customer database.

The rating information in column 510 is indicative of ratings that havebeen accorded to the participants to reflect the extent to whichparticipants have participated frequently, conscientiously and/oreffectively in panels responding to shoppers' queries for fashionopinions. Rating of participants will be discussed further herein below.

In embodiments where information is transmitted to and/or from aparticipant via a cellular telephone or other mobile device, thetelephone number and/or other information required to contact thecellular telephone or other mobile device may be stored in theparticipant database for one or more participant records.

FIG. 6 is a simplified tabular representation of the profile database314 shown in FIG. 3. The table of FIG. 6 includes a column 602 forcustomer identifiers, a column 604 for participant identifiers, a column606 for the age of the profiled individual, a column 608 for the genderof the profiled individual, a column 610 for the income level for theprofiled individual and a column 612 for the self-described socialattitude of the profiled individual.

As in the table of FIG. 5, a customer identifier is provided forprofiled individuals who are customers; for profiled individuals who arenot customers, participant identifiers are provided. The age, gender andincome level columns 606-610 are self explanatory, and arerepresentative of the various kinds of demographic information that maybe stored in the profile database. Other examples of demographicinformation that may be provided are type of neighborhood of residence(e.g., urban, suburban, ex-urban), and geographic region (e.g.,northeast, south, midwest, west coast). In cases where the profiledindividual's address is available, both the type of neighborhood and thegeographic region may be derived automatically from the individual's zipcode. Other kinds of demographic information that may be included,though not indicated in the drawing, are race, ethnic background,religion, marital status, and occupation.

Column 612 contains data indicative of the profiled individual's owncharacterization of her social attitudes. It will be seen that thedesignations shown in FIG. 6 include categories such as “party animal”,“buttoned down”, “shy”, “vamp”, “and “yuppie”. Numerous other potentialcategories may be provided, including, for example, “grunge”,“debutante”, and “biker chick”.

It is also contemplated that the profile database may include more thanone column for subjective categories by which the profiled individualcan characterize himself or herself. For example, there may be separatecolumns for personas projected by the profiled individual in worksituations and in social situations, respectively.

As described above, in one or more embodiments a plurality ofparticipants may be selected to provide an opinion to a shopperregarding a garment based on a characteristic associated with theshopper. The characteristic may comprise a characteristic possessed bythe shopper and/or a characteristic the shopper desires one or moreparticipants to possess. For example, the shopper may specify that atleast one participant should be of a certain gender, income level, ageand/or self-described social attitude. In another example, a participantmay be selected such that the participant shares at least apredetermined number of (or a predetermined particular one or more)characteristics with the shopper requesting the opinions. For example,the merchant server 202 may be programmed to only select participantsfor a shopper who are within a predetermined range of the shopper's age,are of the same self-described social attitude as the shopper and livewithin a predetermined geographical range of the shopper.

FIG. 7 represents a screen display provided to customers and/orparticipants to permit them to enter profile information. The display ofFIG. 7 includes fields 702 and 704 for entering first and last names.Field 706 is for entering the individual's e-mail address. At field 708the individual's age is entered and check boxes at 710 allow theindividual to enter his or her gender.

At 712 a pull down menu is provided to allow the individual to selecthis or her occupation from a number of alternative occupations includedin the menu. A pull down menu provided at 714 allows the individual toselect an appropriate income level. Additional pull down menus at 716and 718 allow the individual to select subjective categories such as asocial attitude category and a dressing style. Via a button 720 theindividual may indicate completion of the profile information. A button722 can be used to cancel entry of the profile information. It will berecognized that the screen display of FIG. 7 is only an example of manydifferent alternative screen displays that may be provided for enteringprofile information. For example, the number and purposes of data entryfields and pull down menus may be different from those shown in FIG. 7.The types of demographic and/or subjective information to be collectedmay be varied in a large number of ways.

FIG. 8 is a simplified tabular representation of the request database316 shown in FIG. 3. The table of FIG. 8 has a column 802 for combinedimage identifiers, a column 804 for customer identifiers, a column 806for request identifiers, a column 808 for request category information,a column 810 for panel size information and a column 812 for panelcomposition information.

The entries in column 802 are pointers to images stored in the combinedimage database 328 shown in FIG. 3. As will be understood fromsubsequent discussion, the images in the database 328 are formed bycombining image information representative of the shopper, such as avirtual model of the shopper, together with image information whichshows a garment selected for a virtual try on by the shopper.

The customer identifiers in column 804 have previously been discussed,and uniquely identify the shopper who is submitting the correspondingrequest for a fashion opinion. The request identifiers in column 806uniquely identify each request submitted by shoppers who use the featureof the present invention.

The information in column 808 characterizes each request by the natureof the feedback requested by the shopper. Among the different possiblecategories is simple binary feedback (e.g., yes/no or “buy it”/“don'tbuy it”). Other possibilities are responses in a range of responses suchas, on a scale of 1 to 5, is this garment very unattractive, somewhatunattractive, average, somewhat attractive, very attractive. Anotherpossible kind of request category solicits open-ended text responses.Another possible type of response would allow three alternatives, namelyyes, no or maybe or “looks great”/“looks ok”/“looks terrible”. Inaddition, the various types of requested feedback can be combined. Forexample, a request for yes/no/maybe feedback can be combined with arequest for open-ended text responses.

In one embodiment, a shopper may be unable to request different types offeedback. For example, the system may be programmed to always solicitonly a single type of feedback (e.g., “Buy It”/“Don't Buy It” or “ThumbsUp”/“Thumbs Down”).

Column 810 records data, which indicates the size of the panel asrequested by the shopper. In one or more embodiments, the shopper mayrequest a size of the panel by specifying a number of participants towhom the image (e.g., image of a garment, image of the shopper wearingthe garment, or image of a virtual model of the shopper combined with animage of a garment) is to be output. In another embodiment, the shoppermay request a size of the panel by specifying a number of responses thatare to be collected. In another embodiment, the shopper may request asize of a panel by specifying a relative size of a panel (e.g., small,large, huge) without specifying a particular number of participants. Insuch an embodiment, each relative size of the panel may be associatedwith a respective range of participants (e.g., three to fiveparticipants is a small panel, six to ten participants is a mediumpanel, eleven to twenty participants is a large panel, and over twentyparticipants is a huge panel) to whom the image is to be output or fromwhom responses are to be collected. For example, a shopper may specifythat the indication of the opinions is to be output to the shopper (and,e.g., the solicitation for opinions ended) when ten responses have beenreceived.

It should be noted that, in one or more embodiments, a shopper mayspecify a period of time for which responses are to be collected, inlieu of or in addition to specifying a size of a panel. For example, ashopper may specify that responses are to be collected for sixty seconds(e.g., from a time at which the request for opinions is output toparticipants) and the indication of opinions should thus include anindication of whatever opinions are received within the sixty seconds.

It should further be noted that, in one or more embodiments, a panelsize and/or a period of time for which responses to a request for anopinion are collected may be parameters set by the system operator andnot by the shopper. For example, in one embodiment, each shopperrequesting an opinion is provided with an indication of whateveropinions are collected during a predetermined period of time (e.g.,sixty seconds). Thus, for example, a request for opinions may be outputto a predetermined number of qualified participants (e.g., participantsselected based on a characteristic associated with the shopper) or toall currently available qualified participants and responses collectedfor the following predetermined period of time (e.g., sixty seconds). Atthe end of the predetermined period of time, an indication of theresponses received during the predetermined period of time may be outputto the shopper.

Column 812 provides information that represents the shopper's requestedcharacteristics for the participants who will make up the panel. Itshould be noted that for purposes of illustration the participantcharacteristics are set forth in simplified form in FIG. 8. In apractical embodiment of the invention, there may be several differentparameters that have been defined by the shopper to request the type ofparticipants in which the shopper is interested.

In one or more embodiments, a shopper may pay for using the system ofthe present invention. For example, the shopper may pay per requestsubmitted or on a subscription basis (e.g., a shopper may pay an extrafee to the shopper's cellular service provider in exchange for a featurewherein the shopper may request fashion opinions). In such embodiments,different fees may provide the shopper with access to more flexibilityin submitting requests. For example, an increased fee may allow ashopper to increase the size of the panel, request different types offeedback, and/or select more tailored characteristics of participants tobe included on a panel.

In one embodiment, a shopper may be allowed to include information inaddition to the image with the request to the panel of participants. Forexample, an indication of the price of the garment, the designer of thegarment, the material(s) of which the garment is made, an occasion towhich the garment is to be worn may be included with the image and/or anadditional image (e.g., an image of the garment in a different color,closer up, or at a different angle). In one embodiment, the shopper maybe charged an extra fee for including information in addition to theimage with the request.

FIG. 9 is a tabular representation of the response database 318 shown inFIG. 3. The table of FIG. 9 includes a column 902 for storing responseidentifiers, a column 904 for storing response outcomes, a column 906for storing text portions of responses, a column 908 for storing requestidentifiers, and a column 910 for storing participant identifiers. Theresponse identifiers stored in column 902 uniquely identify each of theresponses received and stored in the response database. The responseoutcomes of column 904 are indicative of specific alternatives selectedin the responses with regard to the queries that prompted the responses.Thus, in the case of a binary (yes/no) query, a “yes” or “no” portion ofthe response is stored in column 904. Similarly, where the query callsfor a multiple-choice response or a choice within a range of responses,the corresponding selected alternative response is stored in column 904.

Where the response includes open-ended text, the text is stored in thecorresponding field under column 906.

The request identifier stored in column 908 indicates the particularrequest which prompted the respective response. The participantidentifier in column 910 identifies the participant who provided therespective response.

In one or more embodiments, a participant may be allowed to rate theopinion provided by the participant. For example, the participant may beallowed to indicate a degree of confidence, strength or certainty of theparticipant's opinion. For example, if the participant is voting “BuyIt”, the participant may be allowed to indicate a strength of theparticipant's opinion (e.g., on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being thestrongest). In another embodiment, a participant may be allowed toindicate a reason for the participant's response. For example, if theparticipant is providing a text response, the text may indicate thereason why the participant is of the opinion indicated in the response(e.g., why the participant is of the opinion that the shopper should notpurchase the garment in the image). In another example, if theparticipant is providing a binary “Buy It”/“Don't Buy It” response, theparticipant may still be allowed to indicate the reason for the response(e.g., in text format or by selecting one of a plurality ofpredetermined choices, such as “price”, “color”, “dated look”, “fit”,etc.).

In one or more embodiments, a shopper and participant may be allowed tocommunicate with one another. For example, a shopper may find aparticular response (e.g., a text response) particularly intriguing andmay request to communicate with the participant who provided theresponse. In another example, a participant may find that theparticipant has a variety of information to provide to the shopper(e.g., advice about what styles would be particularly flattering to theshopper) that would best be conveyed by communicating with the shopperrather than in the response to the request for an opinion. In anembodiment where a shopper and participant are allowed to communicate,one or both of the shopper and participant may be provided contactinformation via which the other may be contacted (e.g., telephone numberor e-mail address). In such an embodiment, the shopper and participantmay communicate directly with one another. In another embodiment, theshopper and participant may be allowed to communicate with one anothervia the merchant server 202. For example, the merchant server 202 mayrelay messages between the shopper and participant or the shopper andparticipant may communicate via a chat room maintained by the merchantserver 202.

FIG. 10 is a tabular representation of the feedback database 320 shownin FIG. 3. Each entry in the table of FIG. 10 contains summary and/orother accumulated information that was obtained by receiving,accumulating and processing all responses for a particular request. Thetable of FIG. 10 includes a column 1002 for request identifiers; acolumn 1004 for data obtained by accumulating and analyzing responseoutcomes for the respective request, column 1006 for the participantidentifiers for all of the participants who responded to the request,column 1008 for collecting all of the open ended text responses for therespective request, column 1010 for offer identifiers that identifyoffers that are applicable to response feedback provided for arespective request, and column 1012 which contains descriptions ofapplicable offers. Offers provided in connection with feedback forshoppers' requests will be discussed further below.

Although entries corresponding to feedback for only two requests areshown in the table of FIG. 10, it is to be understood that in apractical embodiment of the invention the number of entries may be muchlarger, corresponding to feedback stored for a large number of requests.

In one or more embodiments in which a shopper is provided with anindication of the responses received in response to the shopper's queryfor opinions regarding a garment in simplified form (e.g., percentage ofpositive opinions versus percentage of negative opinions), the shoppermay be allowed to access more detailed information regarding theresponses. For example, the shopper may be allowed to access anyadditional information provided by a participant with a response (e.g.,the text of the response and/or the reasons for the opinion). Forexample, the shopper may be allowed to select a “more details” option ona screen of the shopper terminal 206.

The information in the feedback database 320 and/or the responsedatabase may be utilized to provide more detailed information aboutresponses to the shopper. For example, the feedback database 320 mayinclude the response identifier of each response used to determine thedata in column 1004. The records of the responses corresponding to theresponse identifiers may be retrieved from the response database 318 andany additional data stored for each response in the retrieved recordsmay be output to the shopper. Additionally, should the shopper indicatea desire to communicate with a participant who provided a particularresponse, the participant identifier corresponding to the response maybe retrieved from the response record of the response database 318. Thecontact information for the participant may then be retrieved from theparticipant database 312 and utilized to allow the shopper tocommunicate with the participant. For example, the contact informationmay be provided to the shopper, with the participant's permission.Alternatively, a message from the shopper may be relayed to theparticipant using the contact information.

The shopper image database 322, the product database 324, the garmentimage database 326, the combined image database 328 and the transactiondatabase 330 need not be described in detail but will now be brieflydiscussed.

The shopper image database 322 stores image data that is to be used torepresent the shoppers' appearance during virtual “try-ons” of garments.As noted before, the data in this database may be derived from one ormore photographs of the shoppers and/or may represent virtual models ofthe shoppers.

The product database 324 may have the same format as conventional datastructures maintained for existing retail-shopping websites to storedata regarding products available for on-line sale.

The garment image database 326 stores image data that represents theappearance of garments that may be virtually “tried on” and/or that areavailable for purchase by a shopper. The garment data is available to becombined with the shopper image data to provide a representation of theshopper “trying on” a selected garment. Additionally, the garment datais available for transmission to a participant for an opinion

In one embodiment, a garment image database 326 is used to retrieve animage of a garment a shopper is considering purchasing. For example, ashopper may input a garment identifier into shopper terminal 206 andtransmit the garment identifier to the merchant server 202 along with arequest for opinions regarding the garment. The shopper may input thegarment identifier, for example, by scanning a bar code associated withthe garment using a bar code peripheral device of the shopper terminal206. Alternatively, the shopper may input the garment identifier bytyping it using a keypad of the shopper identifier. Other input devices(e.g., touch screens, microphones, etc.) would be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art after reading the present disclosure. Themerchant server 202 may maintain a database of garment images (or haveaccess to one or more of such databases), such as garment image database326. Each garment image in such a database may correspond to a garmentidentifier. Thus, once the garment identifier is received from theshopper, the image corresponding to the garment identifier may beretrieved from the database and transmitted to each selectedparticipant. In one or more embodiments, the garment image database 326may store additional information about a garment (e.g., designer, color,material, or other description). In one embodiment, such additionalinformation about the garment may be included in the request for anopinion that is transmitted to a participant.

The combined image database 328 stores data corresponding to imagesformed by combining shopper image data with garment image data.

The transaction database 330 may resemble conventional data structuresemployed in connection with retail shopping websites to keep track ofpurchases transacted through the website. The transaction database 330may store, for example, information about garments purchased (e.g., timeof purchase, purchase total, items purchased, payment identifier). Inanother example, the transaction database 330 may store informationabout a request for opinions submitted by a shopper (e.g., time ofrequest, price paid for request, etc.).

Operation of an on-line embodiment of the invention will now bedescribed with reference to FIG. 11.

At step 1102 in FIG. 11, a shopper logs on to a retail shopping website.This may occur in an entirely conventional manner. Next, at step 1104,the shopper invokes a “request opinion” function provided in accordancewith the invention at the retail shopping website. The selection of thisfunction may be accomplished by such conventional techniques as clickingon a suitable link, actuating a virtual button, or selecting an itemfrom a menu.

Then, at step 1106, an image that represents the shopper is retrieved.The image may be a virtual model that has previously been created forthe shopper based on input provided by the shopper. Creation of such avirtual model may be in accordance with known techniques, such as thoseemployed for the “Your Personal Model” feature of the Lands' Endshopping website (www.landsend.com). Alternatively, or in addition, theimage of the shopper may be based upon one or more photographs of theshopper. Such photographs may have been scanned in to the shopper'scomputer and then transmitted to the website or may be captured by acamera interfaced to the shopper's computer. As still anotheralternative, the shopper may have visited a retail store or servicelocation affiliated with the shopping website to have one or morephotographs taken for transmittal to the website. In addition, oralternatively, at such a retail store or service location, scanningtechnology such as laser scanning of the type used for Levi's customjeans may be employed to generate a model of the shopper that veryclosely approximates the actual shape of the shopper's body. As stillanother alternative, the shopper may select (or may previously haveselected) a “dummy” image of a kind that resembles the shopper's bodytype. The selected dummy then serves as an image of the shopper.Shoppers who wish to preserve their anonymity may be permitted to edittheir images so as to obscure their faces.

At step 1108 the stopper selects one or more garments that the shopperdesires to virtually “try on”. It will be noted that step 1108 may beperformed prior to steps 1104 and 1106. Selection of the garment may beperformed in accordance with known techniques.

At step 1110 an image of the selected garment or garments is retrievedfrom the garment image database 326 and is combined with the shopperimage retrieved at step 1106 to provide a representation of the shopperwearing the selected garment. The resulting combined image is thenavailable for distribution to participants to obtain their opinions asto the attractiveness of the garment or garments and/or theirsuitability for purchase by the shopper.

At step 1112 the shopper indicates characteristics of participants fromwhom the shopper wishes to receive an opinion in regard to the selectedgarment or garments. The shopper's selection of participantcharacteristics may be facilitated by a screen display of the type shownin FIG. 12. In the display of FIG. 12 a checkbox 1202 may be selected ifthe shopper wishes to receive opinions from any available participant.If the shopper selects checkbox 1204, a previously entered definition ofa participant panel is invoked.

A checkbox 1206 is available to permit the shopper to select a panel ofparticipants made up of his or her peers. It is to be understood that apeer group participant panel would be made up of participants who havethe same demographic characteristics and social attitudes and/or otherprofile characteristics as the shopper. The definition of the shopper'speer group may be based on a profile that the shopper has previouslyentered into the website, as discussed in connection with FIG. 7. Itshould be noted that the peer group panel definition invoked by checkbox1206 may be the same as the standard participant panel definitioninvoked by checkbox 1204. That is, the shopper's “standard” participantpanel definition may be the same as his or her peer group.

A checkbox indicated at 1207 permits the shopper to select a previouslydefined panel of specific individuals who are friends or acquaintancesof the shopper.

If the shopper does not elect the all-inclusive or previously specifiedparticipant panel definitions that may be invoked by one of thecheckboxes 1202-1207, the shopper may elect to define the participantpanel in terms of specific characteristics by actuating other elementsof the screen display of FIG. 12. For example, a pull down menu 1208allows the shopper to specify an age category for the panel ofparticipants. If the shopper wishes to select two or more of the agecategories available from the pull down menu 1208, this may be done byactuating a button 1210 in cooperation with the pull down menu 1208.

Checkboxes provided at 1212 allow the shopper to select the gender orgenders of the participants to be included in the panel.

A pull down menu provided at 1214 allows the shopper to specify theoccupation of participants to be included in the panel. A buttonprovided at 1216 allows the participant to select more than oneoccupation from the menu 1214.

A pull down menu provided at 1218 allows the shopper to designate anincome level of participants to be included in the panel, and a button1220 to be used in conjunction with the menu 1218 allows more than oneincome level to be designated. Pull down menus 1222 and 1224 may be usedby the shopper to designate social categories and dressing styles ofparticipants to be included in the panel. Buttons 1226 and 1228,respectively associated with the menus 1222 and 1224, permit the shopperto select more than one item from the respective menus.

The desired size of the panel can be defined by using the pull down menuindicated at 1230. There are trade-offs involved in selecting the sizeof the panel. In general, the larger the panel, the more confident theshopper may feel that he or she has received a sound opinion on theselected garment or garments. On the other hand, larger panels may takelonger to assemble and to receive responses from, and, in somecircumstances, a sufficient number of participants may not be availableto provide a panel of the size requested by the shopper.

When the shopper is satisfied with the definition of the participantpanel as input via the screen display of FIG. 12, he or she may actuatea “submit” button 1232. If the shopper wishes to revise the participantpanel definition or to exit from the process of selecting a panelwithout going forward, then a “cancel” button 1234 may be actuated. Ifthe shopper desires to store the panel definition defined in the screendisplay of FIG. 12 as a standard profile for his or her participantpanels, then a button 1236 may be actuated.

It should be recognized that the layout of the screen display of FIG. 12may be varied and that items for defining the panel may be omitted fromor added to those shown in FIG. 12. For example, elements forprescribing the geographical location of participants may be added, andthere may be different or additional categories of subjective orself-defined categories in addition to those represented by the menus1222 and 1224.

The display of FIG. 12 may also include a field (not shown) in which theshopper may enter a specific query to be posed to the participants. Thequery might be something like, “This blouse costs $50.00; is it a goodbuy?” or “Do these shoulder pads look right?” Or there may be a pulldown menu that allows the shopper to select from among a number ofpre-stored queries. In the absence of such a query being entered orselected by the shopper, the system may pose a standard query to theparticipants, as will be seen in connection with FIG. 14. It iscontemplated that the opportunity for the shopper to enter or select aquery may be provided in a screen display that is separate from thepanel definition display of FIG. 12.

It should also be noted that the definition of the participant panelrepresented by step 1112 in FIG. 11 may occur before one or more of thesteps 1106 through 1110.

Once the combined image representing the shopper and the selectedgarment or garments has been generated and the participant panel hasbeen defined, the merchant server 202 proceeds to assemble the panel anddistribute the combined image to the panel of participants (step 1114).

Participants selected to receive the image are determined by comparingprofiles of available members of a pool of participants with thecharacteristics selected by the shopper at step 1112. Participants mayindicate their availability to be members of a panel in a number ofdifferent ways. For example, a participant may download a clientapplication to the participant's terminal to support a function like the“instant messaging” function available through the AOL Internet serviceor to support the well-known “ICQ” function. In another embodiment,participants may log onto a suitable page of the merchant website toindicate their availability.

Until the desired number of participants have received the image andresponded to the shopper's request for feedback, the merchant websiteselects each available participant who matches the shopper's selectedcriteria as a potential participant for the panel. A message like thatshown in FIG. 13 is sent to the selected participants to determinewhether the available participants are, in fact, interested inparticipating in a panel. If the participant selects the OK button 1302shown in FIG. 13, then a display page like that shown in FIG. 14 is sentfrom the merchant server to the participant's terminal. It will be notedthat the display of FIG. 14 includes an image 1402 which is the combinedimage generated at step 1110. Also shown in FIG. 14 are checkboxes 1404,1406 and 1408 that respectively allow the participant to register apositive, neutral or negative opinion based on the image 1402. A field1410 is also provided to permit the participant to enter additionalcomments in the form of open-ended text.

Instead of the three checkboxes shown in FIG. 14, only two alternatives,i.e. positive and negative, may be provided. Also, more than threealternatives may be provided. For example, the participant may beprompted to select one of a range of five alternatives, e.g.: How doesthis look on a scale of 5? In this case the possible alternatives may be5-excellent, 4-good, 3-average, 2-poor, 1-terrible.

Referring once more to FIG. 11, responses entered by participants viathe display of FIG. 14, or a similar display, are received by themerchant server (step 1116) and the received responses are thenprocessed (step 1118) by, for example, performing a statistical analysisto determine what percentage of the responses were favorable,unfavorable and neutral. Based on the processing of the responses,feedback is then provided to the shopper (step 1120) to indicate to theshopper the results of the responses from the panel of participants.

FIG. 15 shows one example of how the feedback may be presented to theshopper. In FIG. 15, a pie chart 1502 presents results of thestatistical analysis of the responses from the participants. For thepurposes of the display of FIG. 15 it has been assumed that theresponses from the participants were in general very favorable, withthree-quarters of the participants indicating that the shopper looked“great” in the selected garment or garments. Consequently, a button 1504is provided in the display of FIG. 15 to allow the shopper toimmediately indicate selection of the garment or garments for purchase.Actuation of the button 1504 may, for example, invoke a “one-click”purchase routine, like that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,411.Alternatively, actuation of the button 1504 may add the selected garmentor garments to a virtual “shopping cart”. Virtual shopping carts arewidely used in connection with retail shopping websites and need not bedescribed further.

Also provided in the display of FIG. 15 is a “see comments” button 1506.Actuation of the button 1506 allows the shopper to gain access to theopen-ended text comments that were entered by the participants as partof their responses. (Of course, no button 1506 is provided in caseswhere none of the participants provided text responses.) The commentsmay simply be streamed in the order in which they were received. Asanother alternative, a key word analysis of the comments may have beenmade as part of the processing of the responses carried out at step 1118(FIG. 11). On the basis of the key word analysis, the comments may begrouped together and may be accessible via headings that correspond tokeywords detected in the responses. Examples of key words that may beused to analyze text comments are “color”, “pattern”, or “cut”. Key wordanalysis techniques that may be employed in analyzing the text commentsare discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/540,498, entitled“Method and Apparatus for Administering a Survey via a ComputerNetwork”, which is commonly assigned with the present application. Thedisclosure of the '498 application is incorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 16 is an example of another screen display that may be provided inaccordance with the invention to give the shopper feedback based on theresponses from the panel of participants. This screen display includes a“thumbs up” symbol 1602 to indicate that the reaction of the panel ofparticipants to the garment in the combined image was a positivereaction. If the reaction were negative, a “thumbs down” symbol might beprovided. If the responses were mixed (neither predominantly positivenor predominantly negative), a “shoulder shrug” image might be provided.

If the shopper is interested in receiving more information about theresponses from the panel of participants, he or she may actuate a button1603. In response to actuation of this button, a display like that ofFIG. 15 may be provided, including a pie chart showing results of astatistical analysis of the responses. Other manners of presenting thestatistical analysis may also be used, such as a bar chart, or a tableshowing percentages in numerical form.

The shopper can also get more information about the responses from thepanel of participants by actuating a “see comments” button 1606. Thisbutton performs the same functions as the button 1506 which wasdiscussed in connection with FIG. 15. In addition, the display of FIG.16 includes a “Buy it now” button 1604 that corresponds to, and mayprovide the same functions as, the button 1504 discussed in connectionwith FIG. 15.

It is noted that the screen displays of FIGS. 15 and 16 have a marketingfunction in that the merchant server allows the shopper to initiatepurchasing of the selected garment or garments by actuating buttons 1504or 1604, as the case may be. These screen displays or similar displaysmay be used for other marketing purposes as well. For example, if thefeedback provided by the screen display is indicative of an unfavorablereaction to the combined image, then a button or link may be included inthe screen display to allow the shopper to access alternative garmentsthat the shopper may virtually “try on” or select for purchase. Such abutton may indicate, for example, “try a different color”. A suggestionor alternative offer included in the feedback screen may be selected bythe server based on an analysis of the responses provided by theparticipants.

The feedback screen may serve as a vehicle for other marketingovertures, as well. For example, if the reaction from the panel ofparticipants is a mixed reaction, a button or display may be included inthe screen of FIG. 15 to offer the shopper a discount to buy theselected garment or garments. Where the reaction is a favorablereaction, the screen display of FIG. 15 or FIG. 16 may include a portionthat suggests an accessory that goes with the selected garment orgarments. The suggestion to purchase the accessory may include adiscount offer or a package price offer to give the shopper an incentiveto purchase the accessory together with the selected garment orgarments. It is also contemplated to offer a package price for theselected garment and an item other than an accessory. For example, ifthe selected garment is a pair of slacks, a package price may be offeredfor the selected garment plus a matching or coordinating blouse. U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/360,422, entitled “Determination andPresentation of Package Pricing Offers in Response to Customer Interestin a Product”, which is commonly assigned with the present application,discloses techniques for presenting package pricing in an on-line retailshopping environment. The disclosure of the '422 application isincorporated herein by reference.

It is also contemplated to incorporate marketing functions in theserver's communications with participants. For example, a “buy it now”button like buttons 1504 and 1604 (FIGS. 15 and 16 respectively) may beadded to the display of FIG. 14 so that the participant is allowed toinitiate purchase of the garment shown in image 1402. Alternatively, apop up message such as “Do you want to buy the garment?” may be actuatedif the participant indicates a positive response to the image such as byactuating checkbox 1404 in the screen display of FIG. 14.

The on-line fashion opinion feature described herein provides benefitsfor the merchant, for the shopper, and for the participants.

From the point of view of the merchant, this feature provides excellentopportunities for the merchant to contribute to the shopper'sdecision-making process. Perhaps most important, the informationgenerated from the responses from the participants may help overcome anyanxiety or reluctance the shopper may have in regard to purchasing theselected garment or garments. Consequently, this feature may make thedifference between an order received from the shopper and an order lost.Thus the on-line fashion opinion feature may serve as a marketing toolto acquire and retain customers. Moreover, the screen displays by whichthe server communicates with the shopper provide what may be a highlyeffective channel through which the merchant may offer to the shopperpromotions, discounts, up sells and other marketing opportunities.

The fashion opinion feature of the present invention can also operate asan effective and low-cost market research tool. In essence, each requestfor participants' opinions may function as an on-line focus groupconcerning the garment or garments that the shopper is virtually tryingon. The data representing the participants' responses is potentiallyvery valuable, and may be analyzed by the merchant to detect fashiontrends and to learn how various groups of customers or potentialcustomers are perceiving the merchant's product offerings. This data, orinformation obtained by analyzing it, may also be sold to designers orother suppliers of fashion items.

Also, since demographic and other information about shoppers may also beavailable, it may be possible to develop additional market intelligencesimply by analyzing the requests for opinions by shopper, to spot trendsin terms of what items are appealing to which groups of customers.

The fashion opinion process disclosed herein also enhances themerchant's market presence vis-à-vis the participants. Preferably everytime the participant is invited to respond to a request for an opinion,the merchant's name is included in the request. Thus the participant'sawareness of the merchant is reinforced. Furthermore, when participantsdo respond, they are exposed to the item of merchandise that has beenselected by the shopper, which may cause the participant to develop aninterest in purchasing the item. In one embodiment, as noted above, theinteraction of the merchant server with the participant may includepresenting the participant with an opportunity to purchase the garmentthat is included in the image to which the participant is responding.Thus the participants' responses to the request for an opinion becomesselling opportunities for the merchant.

From the point of view of the shopper, this on-line opinion feature isalso beneficial in a number of ways. For example, as noted above, theinformation received as a result of the participants' responses may helpthe shopper to make an informed decision and may aid the shopper inovercoming the anxiety which often accompanies a decision as to whetherto purchase a garment. If the shopper is concerned as to whether thegarment will prove acceptable to his or her peers, then he or she mayrequest opinions from participants who are similar to the shopper indemographic and/or subjective characteristics. If the shopper wishes todetermine whether the garment or garments will appeal to a group ofpeople other than the shopper's peers (e.g., to determine whether thegarment will appeal to members of the opposite sex) the shopper againcan specify an appropriate group of participants from which opinions areto be received.

The shopper may also benefit by receiving targeted offers, such as thosedescribed above, that are relevant to the potential purchase of thegarment. For example, as noted before, if the response from theparticipants to a particular garment is mixed, the shopper may receivean incentive to purchase the garment, notwithstanding the less thanpositive response from the participants. Other offers that may beprovided to the shopper, as also noted above, may provide favorabledeals if the selected garment or garments are purchased together withother items.

Furthermore, the fashion opinion feature may also enhance the overallon-line shopping experience. Many shoppers may find that there issubstantial entertainment value simply in selecting a garment, andobserving the resulting combined image when the garment is “tried on”the virtual model or other representation of the shopper. Theentertainment value may be further increased by having the combinedimage sent to participants (perhaps a large number of participants) andthen reading their comments or other responses to the combined image. Itwill be understood that the present invention allows each shopper toassume the role of “fashion model”.

Entertainment value is also one of the benefits of the fashion opinionfeature from the point of view of the participants. Participants mayfind it very enjoyable to observe what shoppers are considering buyingand “trying on”. In effect participants are permitted by the inventionto be attendees at a virtual fashion show. They may also enjoy havingthe opportunity to express their opinion about the potential purchases.At the same time, participants have the opportunity to learn what kindsof fashions are being made available by merchants. This can giveparticipants ideas about how the participants may wish to expand theirown wardrobes.

It is also contemplated, in some embodiments, that the participants mayearn favorable ratings by responding to queries, or merely by beingavailable to respond. For participants who earn favorable ratings,merchants may provide a number of incentives, such as a preferredcustomer status, an opportunity to preview designer collections that arenot yet available to the public, or access to merchandise that is inlimited supply. The merchant may also provide discounts or othermonetary benefits to highly rated participants.

It can therefore be seen that the fashion opinion feature describedherein is advantageous to all involved.

In addition to the on-line embodiment described above, it is alsocontemplated to provide an embodiment of the present invention for useby shoppers who are physically trying on clothes at a “bricks andmortar” retail store. FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate a hardware arrangementprovided to implement the present invention in an in-store environment.

FIG. 17 shows a dressing room 1700 that includes a wall 1702 on which acamera 1704 is mounted. Camera 1704 may be a conventional color videocamera, and includes an optical system 1705. Alternatively, a digitalcamera may be employed. A shopper 1706 is standing in the field of viewof the camera 1704. The shopper is wearing garments 1708. Convenientlymounted on the wall 1702 is a user interface 1710 by which the shopper1706 may input instructions for performing the present invention. Theuser interface 1710 may include, for example, a touch screen 1712 and amagnetic stripe card reader 1714.

Electronic components of the system are illustrated in block diagramform in FIG. 18. In addition to the user interface 1710 and the camera1704 discussed in connection with FIG. 17, and the Internet 204 andparticipant terminals 208 discussed in connection with FIG. 2, thesystem also includes a merchant server 1802 and a frame grabber 1804.The merchant server 1802 includes memory components 1806 andcommunication ports 1808. The memory components 1806 provide program,working and database storage. The communication ports 1808 provide aninterface between the merchant server 1802 and the Internet 204 andparticipant terminals 208.

The merchant server 1802 is connected to the user interface 1710 toreceive input from the shopper and to provide output to the shopper. Theframe grabber 1804 is connected between the merchant server 1802 and thecamera 1704. Under control of the merchant server 1802, the framegrabber 1804 captures and digitizes video signal frames provided by thecamera 1704. The digitized frames are stored in the memory 1806 of themerchant server 1802.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart that illustrates operation of the system ofFIGS. 17 and 18. At step 1902, the shopper dons the garment or garmentsin regard to which he or she desires to receive opinions from a panel ofparticipants. At step 1904 the shopper enters his or her customeridentifier into the system. This may be done by entering numerical datavia the touch screen 1712. Alternatively, a shopper identification cardor the shopper's credit card may be read by the card reader 1714. Asanother alternative the shopper may enter his or her name via the touchscreen.

At step 1906 the shopper enters into the system an identification codethat identifies the garment that he or she is trying on. This code mayalso be entered via the touch screen 1712. As an alternative, the userinterface 1710 may include a bar code scanner that the shopper may useto scan a bar code on a price tag that has been affixed to the garment.

It will be recognized that the order in which steps 1902, 1904 and 1906are performed is not critical. However, it may be more efficient for theshopper to don the garment before entering the information referred toin connection with steps 1904 and 1906.

After donning the garment, and either before or after entering theinformation referred to in connection with steps 1904 and 1906, theshopper uses the user interface 1710 to signal the system to capture animage of the shopper while wearing the garment. This step is representedat 1908 in FIG. 19. Preferably, the capturing of the shopper's image isdelayed by a certain period, say five seconds, after he or she signalsfor the image to be captured. This allows the shopper enough time toassume an appropriate pose for the image to be captured.

It is preferred that the shopper's image as captured by the system viathe camera 1704 be displayed on the touch screen 1712 for review andapproval by the shopper. Decision block 1910 represents a determinationby the shopper as to whether the image is acceptable. If not, theshopper may again signal the system to capture another image of theshopper.

Step 1912 represents the shopper entering his or her selection ofdesired characteristics for the panel of participants who will providetheir opinion on the garment. It is to be noted that step 1912 may beperformed prior to some or all of steps 1902 through 1910. Step 1912 maybe like step 1112 of FIG. 11, and may use an interface screen like thatof FIG. 12. However, the display of FIG. 12 may be adapted for ease ofuse with a touch screen interface. It may also be desirable to simplifythe screen display of FIG. 12, since the shopper may not wish to spendas much time at the interface 1710 as he or she may be willing to spendwhen entering information via his or her own computer terminal as in theon-line embodiment described above.

Following step 1912 in FIG. 19 are steps 1914, 1916, 1918 and 1920,which may generally correspond to steps 1114-1120 of FIG. 11. It will beunderstood that features of the process of FIG. 11 that are onlyapplicable to on-line shopping would not be included in the process ofFIG. 19. However, the user interface 1710 may be used by the system forin-store promotions, and for any other purpose that an in-store kioskmay be put to. For example, since the system knows what garment orgarments the shopper is trying on, the system may also suggest to theshopper accessories and/or matching or coordinating garments to purchasein addition to the garment being tried on. In addition, when thefeedback from the participants is unfavorable or mixed, the system maysuggest alternative garments for the shopper to try on. The system mayinclude a function to permit the shopper to summon a member of thestore's sales staff to help the shopper, for example, to locate analternative garment, an accessory, or a matching or complementarygarment, that has been recommended by the system. With the addition of areceipt printer, the arrangement of FIG. 17 may operate as aself-checkout station.

Advantages offered by the embodiment of FIGS. 17-19 are similar to thoseof the previous embodiment. As before, this embodiment allows a retailerto provide an additional service to the shopper, including opportunitiesfor marketing both to the shopper and to the participants.

For the shopper, the availability of opinions from third parties mayhelp the shopper overcome any anxiety or hesitation in regard to thepurchase, and may generally make the shopping experience more enjoyable.The benefits for participants are much the same as in the on-lineembodiment described above.

In the embodiments discussed above, the fashion opinion system may beadministered either by a merchant's on-line shopping website server orby a server that may be installed in the merchant's store. However,alternative configurations are contemplated. For example, the fashionopinion system may be administered by a service bureau that is undercontract with the merchant and that may provide similar services forother merchants. Information gathered by the service bureau serverregarding requests for opinions and responses may be transmitted tomerchants' computers.

In the embodiments described above, the participants' involvement endswhen they have provided their responses to the shopper's query. However,it is contemplated to modify these embodiments such that shoppers arepermitted, or the system is arranged, to ask follow-up questions of theparticipants and the participants are allowed to respond. For example,either the system itself or a shopper may inquire of participants whogave negative opinions whether their opinion related to the garmentitself or simply how the garment looked on the shopper.

It is also contemplated to permit shoppers to engage in on-line chatwith a selected one or ones of the participants to follow up on commentsthat the participants made, or simply to ask participants to providemore information. As an example, if only one participant in a panel gavea negative opinion, the shopper may wish to follow up with theparticipant to find out what the participant did not like about theimage that was sent to the participant.

Although it may be preferable to report the participants' opinionsexactly as received, it is also contemplated to allow an interestedthird party to skew the reported results. For example, a parentaloverride could be implemented by allowing parents to indicate to asystem that any time a child tries on clothing that the parent considersunsuitable, a negative result will be reported. The results could alsobe skewed at the request of a third party, in a positive direction, sothat the third party encourages the shopper, in effect, to purchaseclothes that the third party approves of. It is contemplated that thethird party may be charged a fee by the system for the privilege ofskewing the results.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 17-19, the userinterface is configured as a kiosk embedded in a wall of a dressingroom, with the wall of the dressing room serving as a kiosk structure.As an alternative, it is contemplated to mount the camera and the userinterface in a stand-alone kiosk structure. As still anotheralternative, a camera and user interface may be implemented as acompact, portable, personal digital assistant (PDA) in wirelesscommunication with the merchant server 1802 (FIG. 18).

Referring now to FIG. 20, a plan diagram of a cellular telephone 2000 isillustrated. Cellular telephone 2000 may comprise a participant terminal208, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Thecellular telephone 2000 may be, for example, programmed to operate on a3G network. The cellular telephone 2000 may be operable to receive anddisplay images (e.g., images of garments, images of a shopper wearing agarment, and/or images of a virtual model of a shopper combined with animage of a garment). Thus, when a shopper submits a request for opinionsregarding a garment, an image of the garment along with a query may betransmitted to the cellular telephone of each participant selected forthe panel that is to provide an opinion to the shopper.

Cellular telephone 2000 includes a display screen 2010 and a keypad area2020. The display screen 2010 is displaying an image of a garment,additional information about the garment (price and material) and arequest for an opinion regarding the garment. The request for an opinioninstructs the participant to vote either that the shopper should buy thegarment or not buy the garment. The participant may respond to therequest for the opinion by pressing the appropriate keys on the keypad2020, as instructed in the request for the opinion (i.e., by pressing“1” to vote that the shopper should buy the garment and pressing “2” tovote that the shopper should not buy the garment).

Cellular telephone 2000 also includes a speaker 2030 and a microphone2040. In one or more embodiments, the speaker 2030 may be utilized totransmit a request for an opinion to a participant. For example, acomputerized message or human operator may output the request for theopinion to the participant (e.g., by telling the participant to press“1” to vote that the shopper should buy the garment or press “2” to votethat the shopper should not buy the garment). In one or moreembodiments, a participant may be allowed to provide an opinion and thusrespond to a request for an opinion utilizing microphone 2040. Forexample, the participant may speak the words “Buy It” or “Don't Buy It”or another choice of words conveying the participant's response to therequest for the opinion into the speaker 2040. A voice recognitionmodule of the merchant server 202 or another computing device operatingto facilitate embodiments of the invention may determine theparticipant's response by analyzing the participant's spoken words andconverting them to text.

Referring now to FIG. 21, a plan diagram of a cellular telephone 2100 isillustrated. Cellular telephone 2100 may comprise a shopper terminal206, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Thecellular telephone 2100, like cellular telephone 2000, may be, forexample, programmed to operate on a 3G network. The cellular telephone2100 may be operable to receive and display indications of responses torequests for opinions.

Cellular telephone 2100 includes a display screen 2110 and a keypad area2120. The display screen 2110 is displaying an indication of results ofa request for opinions. Additionally, the display screen is displayinginstructions to the shopper for obtaining further details regarding theresults. For example, by pressing “#”, the shopper may be presented withadditional details of one or more responses (e.g., the full text of oneor more responses) or may be connected to a human operator who mayanswer any questions the shopper may have about the results. The shoppermay use keypad area 2120 to obtain the additional details, per theinstructions.

The cellular telephone 2100 includes a speaker 2130 and a microphone2140. In one or more embodiments, the shopper may utilize the speaker2130 and/or the microphone 2140 to communicate with the merchant serveror other computing device or entity facilitating aspects of the presentinvention. For example, the results of the request for opinions may beoutput to the shopper via speaker 2130. In another example, the shoppermay request additional details regarding the results by speaking intothe microphone 2140 or may communicate with a human operator regardingthe additional details of the results using the microphone 2140.

It should be noted that the display area 2010 of cellular telephone 2000and the display area 2110 of cellular telephone 2100 may be colordisplays operable to display detailed graphical images to theparticipant and shopper, respectively. For example, the display areas2010 and 2110 may comprise color Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs).

It should further be noted that, in one or more embodiments, thecellular telephone 2100 of the shopper may include an image capturingperipheral, such as a digital camera. The shopper may use the imagecapturing peripheral to capture an image of a garment and/or an image ofthe shopper wearing the garment, for output to the one or moreparticipants to whom the request for opinions is to be output.

It was described above that a rating system may be employed forparticipants. The purpose of such a system may be to encourageparticipants to take part in the system and to participateconscientiously and effectively. For example, if a participant providesa particularly insightful and lengthy response, the shopper may indicatethat the participant should receive an enhanced rating. Alternatively,the system may automatically provide ratings for participants based onavailability, participation and/or length of responses. As noted above,participants may receive benefits from a system administrator or fromthe retailer when participants achieve a certain rating level. It isexpected that good will of participants and a participant rating system,if implemented, will suffice to produce honest responses fromparticipants. However, if certain participants appear to be providingonly negative opinions for the purpose of annoying shoppers, themerchant may choose to screen out such participants.

Shoppers may be given the option only to receive responses fromparticipants who have relatively high ratings. The system may providethat participants who have not participated (i.e., new participants),may have a default rating at a low level. Participants may also be ratedbased on their history as customers of a retailer. That is, participantswho have bought a considerable amount of merchandise from a merchant maybe accorded an enhanced rating because the participant's purchases.

The present invention has been discussed in connection with trying ongarments, but is also applicable to items such as cosmetics, eyeglasses,hairstyles and plastic surgery. Of course, plastic surgery cannot be“tried on”, but an image or virtual image of the shopper (prospectivepatient) can be manipulated to indicate how the shopper will appearafter the surgery has been performed.

It was noted above that merchants may be enabled to suggest alternativeor complementary items relative to garments that the shopper is tryingon or virtually trying on. It is contemplated that this marketingchannel may be made available by the retailer to clothing manufacturersor designers, for a fee.

It is also contemplated that participants may take part in a purchasetransaction involving a selected garment. For example, if a participantis a relative, friend or acquaintance of the shopper, the participantmay be given the option of subsidizing the purchase or of purchasing thegarment as a gift for the shopper. Alternatively, a participant may be arepresentative of another merchant who makes a cross-subsidy offer tothe shopper in connection with the purchase of the garment.

Where the shopper image is a virtual model, the system may recommend tothe shopper a garment or garments that was favorably reviewed foranother shopper or shoppers having a similar body type.

The present invention may include a number of features to enhance theentertainment value of the system from the point of view of theparticipants.

According to one such feature, when participants are invited to join apanel, they are informed of demographic or other characteristics of theshopper, and make a decision on whether to participate based on theshopper's characteristics. In another embodiment, participants are giventhe option of requesting information about the shopper.

According to another feature, participants are permitted to viewshopper/garment combined images, and possibly also to provide responses,even when the participants do not match the participant characteristicsselected by the shopper. In such cases, the non-matching participants'responses may not be used to generate the feedback for the shopper. Theparticipants may be allowed to search for shopper/garment images to viewbased on shopper characteristics, after logging on to a suitablewebsite. Also, or alternatively, shoppers may be rated based onresponses from the participants and participants may search for shoppersto view based on ratings categories such as “top ten shoppers”, “worstten shoppers”, “most improved shopper”. Participants and/or shoppers mayalso be allowed to view lists of garments included in highly ratedshopper/garment images.

It is also contemplated that shoppers may be permitted to define adiverse panel of participants while receiving feedback that is dividedby categories of participants.

In one or more embodiments, participants may be compensated forproviding opinions to shoppers. For example, participants may beprovided with a benefit in exchange for each opinion provided or inexchange for every predetermined number of opinions provided. Examplesof benefits that may be provided include, but are not limited to,monetary fees, entries into sweepstakes or lotteries, discounts onmerchandise or services, or access to the present system for purposes ofrequesting opinions from other participants. In the latter example, theparticipant who receives this benefit becomes a shopper when requestingan opinion.

In one or more embodiments, steps may be taken to maintain the anonymityof a shopper who requests an opinion regarding a garment. For example,if an image of a shopper is transmitted along with the request for anopinion, the face of the shopper may be blurred, removed or replaced inthe image. In an example where only the image of the garment istransmitted, the request for an opinion that is transmitted to aparticipant may not include any information identifying the shopper whorequested the opinion (e.g., the shopper's name or other identifyinginformation may not be transmitted).

It should be understood that, in accordance with one or more embodimentsof the present invention, a shopper is provided with the results of arequest for opinions within a very short time of submitting such arequest. For example, a shopper may be provided with the results withina one or a few minutes of submitting the request. In order to accomplishthis, the selection of participants for a panel and the output of theimage and/or request for opinions to participants may be performedsubstantially immediately upon receiving the request for opinions fromthe shopper. Further, the participants may be provided with a maximumperiod of time within which to respond to a request for an opinion. Forexample, a participant may be provided with a maximum period of time ofone to ten minutes within which to respond to an opinion. In such anembodiment, the system may wait for responses to be received fromparticipants for the maximum period of time and then determine theresults of the query (e.g., determine the indication to output to theshopper, such as percentage of participants who voted “Buy It” versusthe percentage of participants who voted “Don't Buy It”) at the end ofthe period of time, regardless of whether all participants haveresponded.

In one embodiment the period of time for accumulating responses may beset such that the process of collecting opinions and outputting theindication of the results of the request for opinions is performedwithin a short period of time. The short period of time may be measuredfrom a time at which the request is received from the shopper. The shortperiod of time may be such that it allows the shopper to make a decisionregarding the desirability of the garment based on the indication of theopinions while a shopper is conducting a shopping session during whichthe shopper submitted the request for opinions. For example, it maydetermined that it is reasonable for a shopper to wait five minutes forthe results of the request for opinions from the time the shoppersubmits the request for opinions. For example, it may be determined thatthe shopper is likely to continue browsing or trying on garments at themerchant for such a period of time. In another example, it may bedetermined that it is reasonable for a shopper to only wait one minuteor as long as one hour for the results of the request for opinions.

In one embodiment, a shopper when submitting a request for opinions (orat another time, such as when signing up for a subscription to theservice in accordance with the present invention) may indicate theduration of time the shopper is willing to wait for the results of arequest for opinions.

In another embodiment, a minimum number of responses may be associatedwith a request for opinions. In such an embodiment, the process ofaccumulating responses may end when the minimum number of responses arereceived, even if the maximum period of time for accumulating responseshas not ended. Alternatively, the responses may continue to beaccumulated until the end of the maximum period of time. In oneembodiment, if at the end of the maximum period of time a minimum numberof responses have not been received, the shopper may be provided with amessage indicating that the request for opinions did not yield asufficient number of opinions. In one embodiment, the shopper may beprovided an opportunity (either when first submitting a request foropinions or upon receiving an indication that a minimum number ofopinions were not received) to request that the results of the requestfor opinions be provided to the shopper despite the minimum number ofopinions not being received.

Although the present invention has been described with respect topreferred embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will note thatvarious substitutions, modifications and variations may be made withrespect to the embodiments described herein without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

1. A method, comprising: receiving, from a shopper, a request foropinions regarding a garment; determining an image of the garment;selecting, for the shopper, a plurality of peers to provide the opinion,the peers being selected based on a characteristic associated with theshopper; outputting to each of the plurality of peers the request forthe opinion and the image of the garment; receiving responses to therequest from at least a subset of the plurality of peers; andoutputting, to the shopper, an indication of the opinions of the peersregarding the garment, the opinions of the peers being determined basedon the received responses.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theoutputting of the indication is performed within such a short period oftime from a time at which the request is received from the shopper thatit allows the shopper to make a decision regarding the desirability ofthe garment based on the indication of the opinions while a shopper isconducting a shopping session during which the shopper submitted therequest for opinions.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining animage of the garment comprises: receiving, from the shopper, an image ofthe garment.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an image ofthe garment comprises: receiving, from the shopper, an identifierassociated with the garment; and retrieving, from a memory, an image ofthe garment based on the identifier.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinthe characteristic associated with the shopper comprises acharacteristic possessed by the shopper.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the characteristic associated with the shopper comprises acharacteristic the shopper desires at least one peer to possess.
 7. Amethod, comprising: receiving an image from a shopper, the imagedepicting a garment; selecting for the shopper, substantially at a timethe image is received, a plurality of participants to whom the image isto be output, each of the participants of the plurality of participantsbeing selected based on a characteristic specified by a shopperassociated with the garment; causing, substantially at a time theplurality of participants is selected, the image to be output to eachparticipant of the plurality of participants by causing a cellulartelephone of the participant to display the image, wherein a request foran opinion regarding the garment is output in association with theimage; collecting responses to the request for a predetermined period oftime from a time at which the image was output, wherein thepredetermined period of time is not longer than ten minutes; andoutputting an indication of the collected responses to the shopper. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein the selecting is further based on acurrent availability of the participant.
 9. The method of claim 7,wherein collecting comprises: collecting responses to the request until(i) ten minutes from a time at which the image was output passes, or(ii) a minimum number of responses are received.
 10. The method of claim1, wherein the characteristic specified by the shopper comprises acharacteristic the shopper desires at least one participant to possess.11. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic specified by theshopper comprises a characteristic of the shopper.
 12. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the image comprises an image of the shopper wearing thegarment.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the image comprises an imageof a virtual model of the shopper merged with an image of the garment.14. The method of claim 1, wherein an identity of the shopper is notrevealed to the participants.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein therequest for an opinion comprises a query as to whether the shoppershould purchase the garment.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein theshopper specifies a minimum number of participants to whom the image isto be output.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the shopper specifies aminimum number of responses that are to be collected before theindication of the responses is output to the shopper.
 18. The method ofclaim 1, wherein each response comprises one of a positive response anda negative response.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein at least oneresponse further comprises an indication of why the at least oneresponse comprises one of a positive and a negative response.
 20. Themethod of claim 19, further comprising: providing to the shopper theindication of why the at least one response comprises one of a positiveresponse and a negative response.
 21. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising: providing the shopper with information that allows theshopper to communicate with at least one participant.
 22. The method ofclaim 7, further comprising: providing compensation to at least oneparticipant in exchange for at least one response to a request for anopinion that the participant provided.